Excerpt:
IT IS WELL KNOWN that honey will darken when it is stored for long periods of time. Milum at Illinois studied this some years ago and also included the effects of some processing variables on color development in storage. In the European literature on honey it was recorded by Auerbach and Bodlander that as honey was stored, its levulose/ dextrose ratio increased. De Boer did not confirm this and said that in his experiments no changes took place in the sugars. He did note that other changes that occurred in storage of honey were similar to those that were brought about by heating of honey. By
this he meant darkening, decrease in diastase and increase in hydroxymethyl-furfural (HMF, a degradation product of sugars).
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